Philip Pickett

Early life

Born in London but raised in Gloucestershire, he began playing the trumpet while a student at Marling School, Stroud. There he met Antony Baines and David Munrow, who encouraged him to try early woodwind instruments such as the recorder, shawm and rackett. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Pickett was forced to give up the trumpet after being kicked in the mouth while being assaulted on the London Underground at the end of his first year.

Career

Pickett played for the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the English Concert, the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. In 1976 he joined the Albion Band, a folk-rock band led by Ashley Hutchings that included John Sothcott, . They played a mixture of traditional folk music and medieval tunes on a wide range of instruments – curtals, shawms, recorders, crumhorns, bagpipes, rackets, chalumeaux and synthesiser. In 1988 Pickett released his only solo album, called The Alchemist. A collaboration with Richard Thompson and members of Fairport Convention in 1998 resulted in the release of The Bones of All Men, consisting of early music tunes with a modern rock rhythm section and electric guitar.

In 1993 he became artistic director of the Purcell Room Early Music series, and in the same year was appointed director of Early Music at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Musicians of the Globe ensemble specialised in English music from the 16th and 17th centuries. Pickett simultaneously led the New London Consort, which had a wider repertoire covering English, Spanish, Italian and German medieval and Renaissance music. From 1994 to 1997 he was founder and director of the Aldeburgh Early Music Festival.

Pickett taught freelance, mainly at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, from 1972 to 1997. His time at Guildhall later came under scrutiny after his 2013 arrest.

Sexual abuse conviction

After the revelations in 2012–13 of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, a former student was referred by Suffolk Police to the specialist investigation team within the City of London Police. The woman, who was 16 in 1978, later testified that during a lesson Pickett told her to take her top off and lie down in a darkened practice room to "improve her breathing", on later occasions sexually assaulting and raping her. Police arrested Pickett on 4 December 2013, after which further victims came forward. His arrest was not part of the high-profile sex crime investigation Operation Yewtree. It was said at his trial that allegations against Pickett dated back to 1984, when a family complained to the school about him attacking their 17-year-old daughter; they were allegedly told by the school that she should have her lessons elsewhere as no one else had complained. Police discovered evidence within the archives of the school that in 1984 the then principal John Hosier had written to Pickett, asking him to discuss the allegations. Hosier passed police a letter regarding the allegations and his frustrations, but the following year the Guildhall School made Pickett a fellow.

On February 10, 2015, Pickett was convicted of committing two rapes and two indecent assaults in soundproof rooms at the Guildhall School from 1979 to 1983. Following the conviction, Pickett's legal team sought to postpone the sentencing to accommodate his obligations to organize three music festivals. However, on February 20, 2015, Judge Charles Wide sentenced Pickett to a total of 11 years in prison and decided that two additional indictments related to allegations from two women dating back to the 1970s would remain on file. Pickett was acquitted of six additional charges of indecent assault.

With the Albion Band

With the New London Consort

With the Musicians of the Globe

Solo

With Richard Thompson